Sign Up Now to Save Lives With Your Drone Piloting Skills

A new nonprofit called UAViators is promising to offer experienced drone pilots a place to sign up for humanitarian missions where their aircraft can do some good. Pretty soon you might be showing the world how drones can save lives, not just take them!

All you have to do is go their website, create a profile, pick a team, and wait for orders. Easy enough, right?

In a sense, UAViators is creating a social network for experienced, well meaning drone pilots. (The organisation is using Ning, a platform for creating social networks on the fly, as well as Google Docs to coordinate rosters and documentation.) Given that they're just getting off the ground, there aren't really any missions quite yet, but over the past few years, there have been plenty of calls-to-action and aid groups using drones in crisis areas. There's no doubt a more organised network of pilots and technicians will make it easier for more people to get involved.